Skip to main content

How background checks work

Run silent checks against trusted data to prevent fraud and financial crime

Written by Jaye Hackett

Vouchsafe supports four types of background check. You can run these as part of a verification flow or smart lookup.

You can change the sensitivity of some checks.

✅ All checks run silently. Users won’t be notified, and checks don’t leave a soft mark on their credit file.

Anti-money laundering (AML)

Checks the user against ~280 international databases covering around 2 million entities. See what's covered here.

Detects users at higher risk of identity theft or those linked to organised, financial, or international crime. This includes:

  • politically exposed people (PEPs)

  • sanctioned individuals

  • watchlists and official debarments

You can also run the AML check in real time using Alerts.

Online footprint analysis

Finds the user's digital presence by checking ~500 public and semi-public sources.

Matches are based on their email address and/or phone number.

This is a strong signal that the user is a real person, not a made-up or synthetic identity.

Credit bureau (UK only)

Verify a person’s name, date of birth, address and postcode against a UK credit reference agency’s records, as well as public data sources like the electoral roll.


This can be used to confirm identity and address as part of a KYC/AML check.


This won’t affect their credit score or appear on their file.

Did this answer your question?